Let me clarify up front – my current employment has nothing to do with what I’m about to write.  I’m not toeing the party line here, and no one has paid me to have this opinion.  Even if they did, I doubt it would be a living wage.

So.

I realize (and support) that the decision is up to individual business owners, but I’m really sick of some St. Louis bars refusing to carry Budweiser products.  It’s fine if the bar is a micro-only establishment.  That’s something I can get behind.  But when a bar refuses to carry Bud but still stocks Miller (which includes PBR and Schlitz) and Coors (which includes Blue Moon)?  Why???

Aside from being a shithead hipster contrarian, what’s the point of carrying out-of-state macrobrews and not a macrobrew made in your own city?  And don’t give me the foreign-owned excuse.  Both Miller and Coors were bought by foreign concerns years before Budweiser was, and neither of those brewers employs thousands of St. Louisans (possibly it’s St. Louisians, but neither really looks right to me).  To ignore these thousands of people in your own city under the auspices of staying true to independent business is…well, it’s stupid.  It’s ignorant.  It shows a lack of research on your part, five minutes of which would inform you that you’re fucking over your own city in favor of another conglomeration-made product?  WHAT’S THE FUCKING POINT OF THAT?

You know, like I said, if you’re a micro house only, kudos to you.  Brewing is a difficult and expensive process, and the people who do it small and do it right deserve attention.  That’s called having principles and I support them.  When available, I almost always choose Schlafly or O’Fallon products because of this.  (Also because they’re delicious.  WOOT 5 Day IPA!)

BUT I also understand the benefit of supporting a local economy.  Ergo, I choose local beers.  And you know, if a bar in Milwaukee chose not to carry Bud in favor of Miller, I would understand.  Yes, Budweiser is made by a corporation, and yes, that corporation is now foreign-owned, but the production of that beer in our city still employs a very large number of people, and all of those people depend on local businesses like bars.  If your bar chooses not to carry Bud products, that’s fine, but if you choose to carry Miller and Coors instead like it’s a moral decision, you’re a goddamn idiot.

And I hope your bar burns down.  You asshole.

(I mostly wrote this because of bars I like but don’t patronize often – if at all – due to their retarded business practices.  Bleeding Deacon, The Royale, and fake CBGB, take note.)